Sunday, October 21, 2012

Champions!

This week's highlight was Jairam's baptism! We got to the church about an hour before his baptism was to start, and we sat down to talk about what he would say in his testimony. Usually people here just share how they met the missionaries, or their testimony/why they decided to be baptized, or some other short feelings. It's always great. Jairam's English isn't perfect so he wanted to run through it with us beforehand, which he did. It was clear he had been deeply pondering what he would say. He compared himself to a lost sheep who had strayed from the flock and had become lost, but that he had heard the voice of his Shepherd, his Redeemer, calling him back. He said he heard the Savior's "voice" speak strongly to him when he came to this church. He felt the Spirit of God. He shared a scripture from Psalms, and another from 1 Nephi. He is so great. It was a powerful experience for me to be there at his baptism and to see how strongly he felt about this decision. This may sound funny, but in a way it felt like I was getting baptized.He will be a strength to the church here, and later also when he is in India again. (I am also excited to have contributed, in a small way, to the Church in India... but it's nothing I did. It's all God, and Jairam's correct choices.) He is a pioneer!Also, something cool: Julius has been in China for a business trip this week, and his plane back left on Saturday night and got in on Sunday morning... and he decided on his own to COME TO SACRAMENT MEETING! What a champion he is! It's exciting to get back to teaching him this week. I know that the Gospel is true, and that God lives and loves us. Our Savior is always in tune with us--the only question is whether we are tuned in to be able to hear His voice, to hear the Spirit of God as it whispers to us. I am so grateful that the Gospel was restored and is available to us today.Sister Gopinath